Replacement Plumbing
About 4 years ago, a friend had me run new pipes for all the fresh water in the basement. From where the well shut off was to the stubs for upstairs. In the basement is the Hot Water tank (50 gal Electric) a frost cock for he garden Washer/Dryer bay and an old kitchen sink for the plat potting bench.
This huge old mansion was built in 1809 for the first wing and 1859 for the rear wing. (Front has Geogian facade South has Egyptian Revival) The house has had several remodels and redneck repairs! The majority was plumbed in 3/4" Galvanized pipe, about 1/4 in various sized copper and a section of 3/8" grey plastic. I recommended Pex! But they insisted on CPVC (all 3/4"). It took almost 3 days, so I had to keep the water service running over night.
The scary part was the are live 3/4" Gas lines and live 3/4" Fuel Oil lines, ALL IN 3/4" GALVINIZED! I traced every line I cut two times before cutting out anything!
The first section was from the well to the garden bib. The foundation wall is 2 foot thick in that area, I could only locate 18" frost bibs and threaded an extension on that is inside the wall (I hate that!) There just inside the basement is a stop, then 90's up to the overhead lines. I was so scared when I removed the old line, Water, Gas, and Oil almost touching for 40 feet. As I traced the lines, I flagged them with survey tape (and left it when finished. I used blue for water Yellow for gas and red for fuel oil. It turns out there is a fourth line of unknown usage!)
Then I stub off the well line and supply the "Utility area", Hot Water Tank, The whole house cold supply and two stubs that run to two bathrooms.
Next, I have to run line to the rear wall through the foundations of two early 1800's fireplaces that are 12 feet wide and 6 feet thick! There were two chases about 3" around and 20 inches apart. They must have been drilled with well drilling star bits (Like mining coal!). At the back wall Tee right for washer hook-up and left for stubs to kitchen and potting sink. This is the area with the 3/8" grey plastic lines, assempled with plastic compression fittings. In a 4' area there are about 25' of line figure 8ing back and forth! (maybe for a RO filter that's gone, or handyman make work!)
I ended up cutting out 197 feet of pipe, tube and junk. I installed 83 feet of new CPVC! For the kitchen, I replaced all the way to a new faucet, new disposal, and a new instant hot water dispenser. Before I started, it took about 7 minutes to get actual Hot water in the kitchen. When I was done, I ask the lady of the house if she would like to try her new plumbing? She put he hand under the hot water and turned it on. Shen got a little burnt in about 15 seconds! She started crying. She'd put up with no water pressure for 16 years. The runs to the bathrooms had been done by someone else, but the showers were hot and powerful now!
I spent another two hours removing "Dead Runs" of pipe and securing the new lines to the floor joist.
I could have had several jobs like that just from word of mouth, but I only do work for friends now! While I'm willing to do it for free, they pay me well. Other people don't realize that should have been a $3500 job!
My oldest lived in Texas and the Mid-Century Modern Ranch need the copper replaced. It was done in 1/2" Pex, in one day, no new fixtures! $5000 in 2012.
Ivan
The labour was cheap as the community did it themselves, but it was a huge job. SO much easier to get it right the first time!
